Yippee NY Yankees Add An African American To 2008 Roster

YIPPEENY YANKEES ADD AN AFRICAN AMERICAN TO 2008 ROSTERHAWKINS IN ACTION

We are once again going to publicly THANK God for Small Favors YES the New York Yankees really will have an African American on their new roster. NO not you Derek Jeter. Relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins. New York signed a ONE year contract with him in the off season. We did say SMALL favor. No reason to expect he will still be around in 2009. But let’s not worry about that now.

In case you don’t remember LaTroy pitched for the Colorado Rockies last season which proved to be a joy until the last four games of the season. The World Series in which he appeared to no avail as the Red Sox steamrolled everyone on the team. Now at 35 he leaves the Rocky Mountains behind for the canyons of New York City. Hawkins is no stranger to travel. The Yankees are the 6th team in his Major League career.

In response Hawkins said all the right things …

” With all the history and tradition, it’s pretty much everybody’s dream to wear the pinstripes and be part of the Yankees organization,” Hawkins said by telephone. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s funny. I’m excited about it, but my family and friends — they’re ecstatic about it.”

The question is how long will the ECSTASY last ? There sure wasn’t a lot of ECSTASY around the Yankees club house toward the end of last season. Maybe Torre’s departure is a good reason for a Black player’s ECSTASY since Joe did not exactly have a great rapport with the FEW African Americans he hired during hs tenure.

So what will be Hawkins role with the Bombers Middle relief it appears with the departure of Luis Vizcanio. Yes to go to Colorado in return for Hawkins. And how unusual in today’s Baseball World. An African American player replacing a Latino. On one level Hawkins certainly does not have anything to complain about. His $3.75 million one year deal.

In fairness that’s not bad for a 35 year old pitcher with a modest record. About $300,000 a month for the next 12 months. You’d take it in a moment. Even if he will be one of the lowest paid Yankees. Let’s see that’s about what Alex Rodriguez makes a day.

And what do the Yankees get from Hawkins According to GM Brian Cashman – isn’t that the prefect name for the Yankees GM CASH-man – anyway Cashman said “”He’s a versatile reliever that we feel can provide us some innings and fill in the gap between the sixth and seventh innings, simple as that.” In other words a Set Up Man for the Yankees hope that the now OLDer Mariano Rivera will still blow away the opposition in the 8th and especially 9th innings as he does less and less with each passing year. In fact ..

There is even the Dream Scenario for Hawkins that were Rivera to get injured God forbid LeTroy might play an even more prominent role in the Bull Pen even if that is probably wishful thinking. But you never know. Didn’t someone write a book “Life Begins At 35.” But it is probably too strange to think that in 2008 an African American could become the hero of the New York Yankees. NO not you Jeter.

If you want LeTroy Hawkins career stats be our guest look them up we’ll conclude with more words of wisdom from Hawkins ..

“Sometimes you can lose a ball game in the sixth, seventh or eighth innings. My job is to go out there and pass the ball to the next guy so they can do their job, or pass it straight to Mariano. Whichever way it is, we still have to get those three, four or five crucial outs.”

“I just felt like coming to New York was probably the best situation for me to be successful and be on a winning team,” Hawkins said. “I think that’s most important. I had some teams that wanted me to come there and start the process of a winning tradition.”

“I just didn’t know if I was ready for that. I did that in Baltimore and I went to a losing situation, and losing definitely doesn’t do well for your mental approach for the game. My expectation is to come in and hopefully win a World Series,” Hawkins said. “I think that’s everyone’s goal at the Major League level. I know that coming to New York is definitely putting myself in a good position to do so.”